Tetsutoshi

The older apprentices in The Crystal Highlands of Armaria say Tetsutoshi wears the war paint to hide their fear. They see the bowler hat, the comfortable jumper, and assume the markings are a bluff. They aren't entirely wrong. Before, Tetsutoshi was just another trainee, more interested in the sunsets reflected in the unshakable monoliths than the theories of magic they contained. Then one evening, they strayed too close to a forbidden scrying pool and saw not the future, but a memory held in the water: the Emperor’s fall, the fury of Oda, the sheer cost of victory. The vision lasted only a second but burned itself behind their eyes. The paint started the next morning. It isn't for others. It's a reminder for themself—of the power that exists, the stakes of failure, and that some knowledge, once gained, can never be unlearned.